July 7 + 

My hand gets a little better. But it’s a cat and mouse game, and so humiliating to be the mouse. + 

… Parental affection comes to me only in spasms, and if they hurt, they do not last long. Curiously enough, as in the case of very old people, my consciousness reverts more easily to conditions long past. I seem unable to apprehend all the significance of having a nine-months old daughter, but some Bullfinches or Swallows seen through the window rouse me more. No one can deny I have loved Birds to intoxication. In my youth, birds’ eggs, and little nestlings and chickens sent me into such raptures I could never tell it to you adequately.⁠ ⁠… I am too tired to write more. + 